The senators have approved the use of Russian armed forces for the peacekeeping mission in Nagorno-Karabakh [(Artsakh)], RIA Novosti reported.

According to the Russian constitution, the issue of the deployment of a military contingent is decided by the Federation Council, but Russian peacekeepers are already in the region.

As told to RIA Novosti by Andrey Klishas,  Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building, the Russian president had the right to urgently send peacekeepers to Karabakh without the consent of the upper house of the Russian legislature because Russians had been killed there.

Klishas also informed that in this case, the Federation Council’s consent was necessary in order to use the Russian army, as it was not an urgent military situation, but a planned event lasting several years.

These Russian troops’ peacekeeping mandate in Nagorno-Karabakh is envisaged for a period of five years—and with the possibility of its extension.

On November 9, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a joint statement on a complete cessation of hostilities in and around Artsakh. Accordingly, Russian peacekeepers will be deployed in the region to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire and the cessation of hostilities. But this statement also stipulates the handover of part of Artsakh lands to Azerbaijan.